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PROVO - Sen. Orrin Hatch already has started stumping.
After being accused of being out of touch and out of town too much of the time, the five-term Utah Republican hit the re-election trail this month, visiting newspaper editorial boards, and speaking to scientists at Myriad Genetics and Utah County voters.
In a rambling "Washington Update" at the Provo Marriott Hotel on Monday, Hatch unabashedly played to his conservative audience. He mentioned his graduation from Brigham Young University and talked up the school's football and basketball teams.
Hatch also compared Utah County to the high-tech centers of California's Silicon Valley and Massachusetts' Route 128 high-tech corridor. The "hip" people live in San Jose. The "intellectuals" live on the East Coast. And the "good people" live in Utah County - "one of the most important counties in the country," Hatch said.
In his quest for a sixth six-year term, Hatch faces challengers from both parties. St. George Republican state Rep. Stephen Urquhart will challenge the senator at the GOP convention next spring. The winner of that contest will face Democrat
Pete Ashdown, president and founder of XMission internet service provider.
Urquhart said Hatch's flurry of activity is an attempt to reconnect. "If he worked every day like he has the last two weeks, I might be running his campaign in Washington County rather than running against him," Urquhart said. "Obviously, he's relocated Utah on the map."
With frequent swipes at Democrats in Washington and the "liberal media" - except for Fox News, which just "evens" things out - and constant reminders of his committee memberships and seniority, Hatch tried to remind
Utah County voters why they need him in Congress.
"There's value in seniority," Ashdown allowed, "but there's also value in new ideas."
Hatch's support for President Bush was unequivocal - on the president's "gutsy" immigration policy and his decision to send U.S. troops to Iraq. Calling his colleagues in Congress "gutless" for refusing to address immigration reform, Hatch mentioned his sponsorship of the DREAM Act, which allows states to grant in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants.
"I don't sanction illegals coming
into this country. I don't sanction undocumented workers," he said. "But we know some industries in our state wouldn't even be alive" without illegal immigrants. And their children should not be relegated to the "underworld."
And he insisted the War in Iraq has successfully quashed post-9/11 terrorist attacks in America and will ultimately lead to the defeat of terrorism everywhere. "It's better for us to fight terrorism offshore in Afghanistan and Iraq than it is for us to fight it onshore," Hatch said.
Noting that more than 1,800 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq,
Hatch said, "I don't mean to minimize it, but we lose people every day on the streets in this country - far more than we lose over there."
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